This One Middle Eastern City Recorded A New Global Temperature Record

Tuesday morning was likely a record-breaking morning in this one city in Oman. Quriyat, a coastal city in the Middle East and located about 50 miles southeast of the country’s capital, Muscat, experienced their warmest low temperature on record. Overnight Monday, the temperature only dropped down to 108.7 degrees.

In most US cities, a temperature of that magnitude is historic — for a maximum daily temperature. It’s a rarity for most parts of the country to experience heat of this magnitude, but that happened as a low temperature in this Oman city. According to weather records expert Maximiliano Herrera and Jeff Masters, this breaks the world record for the warmest 24-hour minimum temperature, breaking the previous record of 107.4 degrees set at nearby Khassab Airport in Oman on June 27, 2011. It is worth noting, however, that the World Meteorological Society does not collect highest minimum temperature records. Therefore, this likely new record broken on Tuesday will likely remain unverified.

According to Jeff Masters, the high temperature on Tuesday in Quriyat, which was 121.6 degrees is about 2 degrees shy from the all-time record high temperature in Oman. That heat is impressive, but temperatures of this magnitude can occur in the US as well. In Death Valley, the hottest location in the country, it typically reaches or exceeds 120 degrees on about 18 days per year. On July 9, 1913 — over a century ago — they achieved a new all-time record high of 134 degrees.

Jackson is Head of Content at WeatherOptics and produces several forecasts and manages all social media platforms. Previously, Jackson forecasted local weather for southwestern Connecticut, founding his website, Jackson's Weather, in the March of 2015. He is currently studying Meteorology and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Miami.